The moment Imu saw the excitement in Brook's eyes, his fury turned feral.
He would not allow a power like that to take notice of this world. He could not allow Brook, the sinner who dared to open the Gate of Hell, to live.
"Go to hell, Brook," Imu snarled, his body erupting with a violent aura of destruction. "Sinner of the world!"
He surged forward, killing intent so thick it felt like it could crush the air itself.
This world needed only one true god, and it was him. It did not need gods from somewhere beyond. Brook was dangerous precisely because he could attract them, and even Imu did not know what that Hell God would do if it ever truly set its gaze here.
Imu ruled this world, but he also belonged to it. He had no interest in watching it invaded, or erased, by something he could not control.
The moon races were one thing. Their technology was frightening, but at least it was a threat he could still handle.
A Hell God stronger than him was something else entirely.
Brook read the intent in Imu's eyes at once. He understood the fear behind the rage. Imu was afraid Brook would draw down something unstoppable, something that could threaten his rule, or simply wipe the world clean.
"Yohohoho!" Brook laughed wildly, as if he had just heard the funniest joke in the sea. "Imu, those eyes are terrifying. Are you sure you want to push me? What if I open the gate again and we all die together?"
Darkness surged from Brook's body.
His eyes deepened into a cold, dark blue. The Seven Star Demon Sword blazed with layered power, black darkness wrapping the blade, bluish white Underworld energy coiling like mist, and red Conqueror lightning snapping around it.
He charged without restraint and met Imu head on.
Imu's fists and legs became afterimages.
"Destruction, Annihilation!"
"Destruction, Strong Wind!"
"Destruction Aurora!"
"Destruction, Sha Fire!"
Wave after wave of killing power ripped through the air. Brook blocked with the Seven Star Demon Sword again and again, but each clash tore away his clothes and scraped his flesh clean, leaving pale bone flashing through the gaps.
Imu did not care about races or civilians. To him, they were ants.
But even so, he had never thought of destroying the world itself.
Brook was different. Brook might actually drag everything down with him, laughing the whole way.
Brook's jaw tightened as he endured the storm. Even with darkness and Underworld energy, he could not keep up with the pressure of a thousand year immortal who had polished every aspect of strength and battle sense to a terrifying peak.
Imu was too strong.
Brook had to speak, had to force a wedge into this madness.
"Imu!" Brook roared, voice shaking the air. "I only wanted to test you at first, but you're dead set on erasing my Universal Government and the Hell Pirates! Fine, I admit it. Right now, I'm not your match. But don't even think you can kill me!"
Their blades and fists collided again, sparks and black lightning bursting into the sky.
Brook's tone turned sharp, threatening.
"From today on, we split the world with the Red Line as the border. Cross it, and I'll tear the gates open and bring the gods of Hell down with me. If I'm going to die, I'll take you and this whole world with me!"
It was a gamble.
Brook did not know if the Hell God could truly influence the living world, or if it could ever cross over.
He was bluffing.
Because he needed time. He still did not even know the true names of the mythical gods behind the Dark Dark Fruit and the Yomi Fruit. Without that, he could not reach the highest awakening, could not climb to the same level as Imu's God of Destruction.
He needed more years, more research, more power.
Until both fruits could stand on the same throne as that destruction.
Then, and only then, could Brook crush this old immortal with his own hands.
But Imu ignored the threat completely.
He pressed harder, faster, refusing to give Brook even a breath to steady himself. He wanted Brook dead before Brook could convince himself to gamble everything on mutual destruction.
Imu understood people. He understood Brook.
Unless driven into absolute despair, Brook would not truly choose to die together.
That hesitation was the blade Imu intended to use.
Brook's eyes widened.
Imu was not giving him even half a heartbeat.
"Nimma…" Brook spat, rage and desperation twisting his voice. "Fine. If the world floods after I die, then so be it. Imu, you forced my hand!"
Imu's pupils tightened.
For the first time, tension flickered through him.
He attacked even more violently, determined to kill Brook before the next move could happen.
Brook tried to reach for his trump card, the Door Door Fruit wristband, to open an escape door back to the mid New World.
He could not.
Imu's pressure pinned him in place. Imu's timing was merciless, strangling every opening.
Brook's body cracked under it.
Under darkness and Underworld energy, his skin was still being erased piece by piece. Bone showed across his face, hands, and chest.
Then Imu's punch drove through Brook's heart.
Blood burst from Brook's mouth, but his eyes burned red with fury.
"Ahhh!! Imu! Then we die together!"
"The Secret of the Underworld, The Gate of Hell!!"
A sacrifice anchor formed again.
The portal tore open for an instant, gray and cold, a wound in the world.
Even then, Imu did not stop.
He struck again with a destructive light kick that smashed half of Brook's chest. Brook, already pierced through the heart, was nearly split in two. Only a thin strip of flesh on the left side still connected his upper and lower body.
This was not a Logia body. Brook was not elemental.
Whether he could survive like this was uncertain.
Imu moved in to finish it, to erase Brook completely.
But the moment the Gate of Hell appeared, that terrifying aura returned.
It was as if something in that depth had been waiting, patient, offended, angry.
Imu's face twisted.
Fear slammed into him again, so sharp it made his instincts scream.
He retreated desperately.
Finally, Brook got his chance.
With shaking hands, he activated the door wristband and forced open a green escape door. He fell into it and vanished in an instant.
The terror beyond the Gate of Hell moved the moment the portal opened.
It did not chase Brook.
Brook carried the smell of hell. He could be caught later.
This gate was fragile. It could not last long. That presence could not cross over.
So it punished instead.
Its attention locked onto the stronger ant, the one whose stench matched the imp that had dared send a destructive beam into its realm.
A stream of hellish darkness shot through the gate.
Not mist, not smoke, but something dense, almost solid, moving at a speed that felt beyond space itself.
It struck the fleeing Imu directly.
The Gate of Hell collapsed and vanished at once, as if it had taken a force it was never meant to endure.
"Ahhh!"
Imu's scream rang across the sky.
The Five Elders froze, then surged toward the spot where Imu was falling, panic flashing through their faces.
The Navy Fleet Admiral and the Hell Kings were startled as well, their eyes widening.
What kind of terror had Brook and Imu dragged onto the battlefield?
Even they could feel the chill of it.
Linlin, teeth clenched, shot forward at full speed, racing to find Brook's location.
-------------
Both sides had reached the same ugly conclusion.
Their leaders were critically wounded, teetering on the edge of death. With the pillars of the battlefield collapsing, the navy officers and pirate captains could only pull apart, keep their distance, and weigh whether continuing the war was worth gambling everything on a single breath.
Shiki and Redfield were the most restless.
Their eyes gleamed with the same thought, finish it. Hunt down Imu while he's broken, end the nightmare here and now.
But Linlin chose that moment to abandon the front and go searching for Brook.
One top tier fighter leaving the field meant the chance was gone. A once in a lifetime opening, slammed shut by reality.
Roger wiped cold sweat from his forehead, breathing hard. With his Haki that could hear everything, the aura that had poured out of the Gate of Hell had hit him even more clearly than most. He had been so shaken he nearly froze in place.
Garp had not missed the opportunity.
The old bastard had driven a fist into Roger's face and left him with a fresh panda eye.
"Is that… the world after death?" Roger murmured, voice low. "If I die… do I end up in hell too?"
His mind wandered, half delirious and half fascinated.
Would he reincarnate there?
Or would he carve out a new era, sailing the Underworld as the greatest pirate in hell?
"Gods really do exist…" Rayleigh said, disbelief in his tone.
He had suspected it the day he learned about the Mythical Zoan powers. Sengoku's Great Buddha Fruit alone was proof that legends were real.
But Sengoku did not feel like a god.
Rayleigh and Roger had always believed three types of Haki, sharpened to the limit, were enough to clash with any so called deity.
Today was different.
That presence from beyond the gate was something else. Supreme, ancient, absolute.
For the first time, Rayleigh felt certain there truly was a higher existence watching from above.
"They're retreating!" Kaido roared, voice thick with impatience. "Are we chasing them or what?!"
He had been locked in a brutal fight with Kong, and he still could not be sure he could kill the Fleet Admiral. If anything, Kong was pressuring him.
Now Kaido watched the Elders escort an unconscious Imu away, while Kong, Sengoku, Zephyr, Garp, and the rest moved to cover their retreat.
His blood boiled.
It wasn't only Kaido.
Shiki wanted to move. Redfield wanted to move.
But without Linlin and Brook, the chase could easily become a pointless brawl, no winner, no finish.
Newgate exhaled, then spoke up, voice steady.
"Forget it. This was an information war from the start." He glanced at Roger and Rayleigh, who clearly had no appetite left for another life and death chase. "Chasing now won't get us much. We should find Brook fast and back up the coalition battlefield."
Kaido's eyes narrowed.
"Hmph. Then go drive those World Government coalition forces out of the New World." His voice turned sharp, pride cutting through the fatigue. "Let the whole world see what the World Government really looks like when it bleeds."
He transformed into a massive blue dragon and shot off toward the next battlefield.
"Wait for me, Kaido!" Oden leapt onto the dragon without hesitation and left with him.
Redfield gave one last cold look at Imu and the Five Elders disappearing into the distance. He snorted, then became a bolt of lightning and vanished.
"Gurararara!" Newgate laughed loudly, confidence returning. "Shiki, give us a ride."
As long as the Hell Pirates hadn't taken fatal losses, he believed Brook wouldn't die.
And since Shiki's ship was heading over anyway, Newgate waved Roger and Rayleigh along, even if the two weren't exactly popular right now.
Shiki rolled his eyes, shameless as ever.
"Hmph. We'll let that bastard Imu go this time."
Then his gaze flicked to Roger's panda eye, and his expression twisted into open disgust.
"Seriously, Roger… you got beat up even while dealing with Garp? Were you napping out there?"
Rayleigh, at least, hadn't been battered like that by Zephyr. But Roger, the captain, getting tagged like a rookie?
It was embarrassing.
Roger could only laugh awkwardly. What could he say?
He had been rattled by the Hell God's presence, and Garp had the moral standards of a sea king. The man saw a weak moment and took the shot, no hesitation, no shame.
And because Nansha Island had already been erased by Imu, Shiki could only grab a half sunk wreck to use as a foothold. With that, he carried Newgate, Roger, and Rayleigh away, rushing toward the main battlefield.
…
Elsewhere, the Elders carried Imu as they fled.
His chest was pierced through, black smoke leaking from the wound. They kept forcing healing medicine into him while he rolled his eyes, half conscious and trembling.
Imu was in agony.
A hole through his chest meant little to the God of Destruction. His body could endure worse.
But that strike from beyond the gate had not targeted flesh.
It had hit his soul.
His spirit felt like it was cracking apart, collapsing from the inside. A casual punishment from the Hell God was dozens of times more terrifying than anything Brook had ever produced.
Imu could not resist it.
If that terror could have crossed the gate, Imu might have died on the spot, and this world might have become a toy in a god's hands.
That thought made Imu's hatred for Brook deepen until it was almost pure poison.
And yet, with the Hell God's shadow hanging over them, Imu no longer dared to fight Brook to the death.
He could not risk Brook opening the gate again.
At the same time, Imu understood Brook would not open it casually either.
Brook had been noticed too.
If the gate opened again, neither of them could predict which unlucky soul the Hell God would choose to punish next.
Both were cautious. Both wanted control.
Neither wanted their life decided by an unknown god's whim.
The Five Elders guarded Imu and retreated toward Mary Geoise for treatment, while Navy Kong moved to take charge of the World Government coalition's retreat.
Without the top fighters holding the line, even a million strong coalition would be unable to stop the Five Hell Kings. That kind of calamity level power was beyond numbers.
…
In a green space, Brook struggled to stay conscious.
His body was nearly split in two. He poured Hell energy into himself, forcing regeneration, but Imu's destructive power clung like thorns embedded in his flesh, constantly eroding what he rebuilt.
Step by step, Brook dragged himself out of the space and fell through a spatial gate into a hidden place.
Crocus had been waiting.
The moment he saw Brook's injuries, his face changed. He didn't waste a single word.
He activated the ultimate secret of his Healing Fruit.
"Absolute Healing, Time Rewind!!"
Brook's empty chest began to recover at terrifying speed.
At the same time, Crocus's hair turned gray before their eyes.
This was an ultimate technique, one that burned away life itself. Something you could only use a handful of times in an entire lifetime.
Crocus didn't hesitate.
Brook was his faith.
If the price was becoming an old uncle for the rest of his days, then so be it.
He could always keep living with that pure gold ring anyway.
Even if the Healing Fruit's true secret didn't care about that ring, and still demanded its payment in full.
.....
[Check Out My Patreon For Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]